The war in Libya is over and the old dictator Gaddafi has met a violent and inglorious end. The leaders of the free and democratic powers are congratulating themselves on their support for the rebels (now the legal government). The people of Libya celebrate their new freedom and the victory of the revolution. Not too triumphalist, a word of criticism for the brutal manner of Gaddafi’s end, not fitting for one in the rulers club, but a job well done by NATO for a change. This is the narrative in the media.

After six months of fighting, the Libyan ‘rebels’ are celebrating their victory over the once all-powerful Gaddafi, who for 42 years had been flouting the western democracies, and playing cat and mouse with their leaders. He was also a member of the Socialist International. The democracies, in fat years and lean, had made every effort to get into the good books of Libya’s Guide, but from the moment when a real popular revolt against the Libyan dictator’s Jamahiriya regime was turned into a sinister struggle between factions of the bourgeoisie, they have been giving their active support to the Transitional National Council (TNC).